Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region.

They say Qatar backs militant groups including so-called Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda, which Qatar has denied.

The Saudi state news agency SPA said Riyadh had closed its borders, severing land, sea and air contact with the tiny peninsula of Qatar.

Qatar called the decision "unjustified" and with "no basis in fact".

The unprecedented move is being seen as a significant split between powerful Gulf countries, who are also close US allies.

It comes in the context of increased tensions between Gulf countries and their near-neighbour Iran. The Saudi statement accused Qatar of collaborating with Iranian-backed militias.What has happened?

The diplomatic withdrawal was put into motion by Bahrain then Saudi Arabia early on Monday. Their allies swiftly followed.

SPA cited officials as saying the decision was taken to "protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism".

The three Gulf countries have given Qatari nationals two weeks to leave their territory.

In the latest developments:

The UAE has given Qatari diplomats 48 hours to leave the country. Abu Dhabi accuses Qatar of "supporting, funding and embracing terrorism, extremism and sectarian organisations," state news agency WAM said UAE airlines Etihad Airways, Emirates and Flydubai said they would suspend all flights to and from Qatari capital Doha from early Tuesday, local time The Gulf allies said they had closed their airspace to Qatar Airways Bahrain's state news agency said it was cutting its ties because Qatar was "shaking the security and stability of Bahrain and meddling in its affairs" The Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels also expelled Qatar from its alliance because of its "practices that strengthen terrorism" and its support to groups "including al-Qaeda and Daesh [IS], as well as dealing with the rebel militias", according to SPA.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40155829The economic consequences, and the effect on many Muslims are considerable. It's difficult to imagine any Western country trying to take such actions, let alone getting away with it. I can't imagine the BBC staying in impartial reporting mode if they did.

With a population of about 2.7 million people, this tiny nation on the north-east coast of the Arabian Peninsula is trying to punch above its weight.

People know about it thanks in part to its national airline (Qatar Airways), its international news station (Al Jazeera) and through sport (notably winning the 2022 football World Cup and being a former sponsor of perhaps the world's most famous club, Barcelona).

And with a distinctive skyline in the capital Doha, it has succeeded in attracting multinationals to open offices there.

So these latest developments mean there's a lot at stake.Flights

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways and Dubai's Emirates are suspending all flights to and from Doha, starting from Tuesday morning. Both carriers operate four daily return flights to Doha.

Budget carrier FlyDubai is also cancelling the route, with other airlines, including Bahrain's Gulf Air and Egyptair expected to follow suit.

It comes after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt all said they would stop flights in and out of Qatar, and close their airspace to the country's airline, Qatar Airways.

And it is Qatar's flag carrier that risks being the biggest loser. On one level, its flights to places like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Cairo will stop. That is dozens of flights a day.

It has already said it is cancelling its services to Saudi.

But being banned from large chunks of airspace in the region would also cause a major problem, forcing it to alter flight paths, inevitably adding time to flights.

"If a journey to Europe that used to take six hours now takes eight or nine because it has had to change routes, then that makes it far less appealing and passengers might look elsewhere," says Ghanem Nuseibeh, director at advisory firm Cornerstone Global.Food

Desert states, by their nature, struggle to grow food. And food security is a particular issue for Qatar given the only way in by land is a single border with Saudi Arabia.

Every day hundreds of lorries cross the border, and food is one of the main supplies. About 40% of Qatar's food is believed to come via this route.

Saudi Arabia has said it will close that border and when the lorries stop, Qatar will become reliant on air and sea freight.

"If things start costing significantly more, then you're going to see the Qatari people putting increasing political pressure on the ruling family for either a change of leadership or a change of direction."Image copyright ReutersImage caption The 2022 World Cup is helping fuel a construction boom in Qatar

He also points out that many poorer Qataris make daily or weekly trips to Saudi to do their grocery shopping as it is cheaper. Clearly a closed border means this will no longer be possible.Construction

A new port, a medical zone, a metro project and eight stadiums for the 2022 World Cup are just some of the major construction projects going on in Qatar right now.

Key materials, including concrete and steel come in by ship but also by land from neighbouring Saudi.

The closure of that border could, as with food - push up prices and lead to delays.

A materials shortage is already a threat that looms over Qatar's construction industry. This risks making things worse.Image copyright Reuters

A lengthy closure of the airspace and land borders would "wreak havoc on the timeline and delivery" of the World Cup, says Kristian Ulrichsen, a Gulf expert at the US-based Baker Institute.People

The move to end ties bans Saudi, UAE and Bahraini citizens from travelling to Qatar, living there or passing through it, according to the Saudi government. People affected have 14 days to leave.

Meanwhile Qataris will have the same amount of time to get out of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.

More significant though would be if Egypt issued a similar ban. According to one recent report about 180,000 Egyptians live in Qatar - with many involved in engineering, medicine and law as well as construction.

A loss of that workforce would pose a problem for both local and international firms operating in the Gulf state.Trade and business

We're already seeing business deals begin to crumble.

Many Gulf firms have a presence in Qatar, including in retail. Those stores are likely to to close, at least temporarily, believes Mr Nuseibeh.

And major Saudi football team Al-Ahli has cancelled a sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways.

This is only a temporary isolates compared Brexit, the EU certainly would permanently alienate British.

Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya “When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed.When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

Don't think Saudis and others are fighting Isis or Wahabi inspired terrorism.Almost all Sunni Gulf states' rich feudal supported and support Alquaeda and Isis by financing them. Gulf countries are good at playing Taquia or double dealings. Even Trump can be fooled!though Katar is a Sunni country, here it is accused of not controlling its militant Shia population.

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SAM, why do you worry yourself abut UK politics? I don't think there will be an EU in a few years time, and the more migrants and terror attacks we have the quicker that day will come. So we are well out of it.

SAM, tell me, when Singapore was kicked out by Malaysia for not being sufficiently Muslim, did it fail as a country? Which country has today the better living standards, Singapore or Malaysia?

Singapore has hundreds of billions of reserve money but it is still considered a poor country compared to Malaysia, Malaysia does not have a lot of money, such as Singapore, but they are richer than Singapore because they have natural resources. Everyone knows any country without natural resources is considered a poor country.

Singapore standard of living is higher than Malaysia, but Malaysian with low income are still able to buy a car, house, etc. Compared with Singaporeans have a better income but many can't afford to buy a car.

Singapore needs to work to death, I believe you see a lot of elderly people aged 70 years and still working, unlike Malaysia aged 50 an above and many of them relax and enjoy their old days similar to the UK people.

Singapore was kicked out by Malaysia because Singapore Chinese (PAP) wants to dominate Malaysia. They are ungrateful immigrants. Tell me which country there is no Chinese.....

Btw you're OUT OF TOPIC

Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya “When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed.When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

Singapore's strong currency backed by the Brunei a Islamic country because they have natural resources...you foolsSingapore, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Borneo and Indonesia is Malay Peninsula before. Malay Peninsula are rich with abundant of natural resources, which is why many countries want to dominate it. One of the country is the UK...

Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya “When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed.When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

Brunei is an Islamic country BECAUSE they have natural resources? Now, don't be silly.The rest makes no sense either. Please try again. Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia are islands and not part of the Malay peninsula, even though there are two bridges from Singapore to Malaysia. And "Borneo" is a large island with three countries having territory there, Brunei (independent), Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan (part of Malaysia) and Kalimantan (Indonesia).

Still, you forgot to mention why you picked Singapore instead of Malaysia which you say you like better.

manfred wrote:Still, you forgot to mention why you picked Singapore instead of Malaysia which you say you like better.

Or, even better, can we talk about Qatar now?

Temasek is the land of my ancestors, I'm not quitter like Singapore Chinese. I can stay in Malaysia any time if I wanted to. And also I can live in the UK if I want it, because my birth certificate stated 'nationality' as British subjects. One of my nieces lives in London, she is married to Englishman. I have not seen her for more than 20 years.

And you still have not answer my question, "Tell me which country there is no Chinese?"

Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya “When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed.When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

I did not ask what you possibly could do, but why you made the choice you made when at the same time you are not happy about it. And as far as I remember, Singapore does not allow dual citizenship.

And I know that you are quite racist about Chinese people from past posts, so I am not sure why you are asking that. To my knowledge there are Chinese people in pretty much every country, some more than others. And generally they are good hard working people who often have their own businesses, which is why some Malay people are envious of them, you being one. If we wanted more immigrants the Chinese would be a very good choice, most of all, because they loathe anything extreme and are not in the habit of blowing things up.

manfred wrote:And I know that you are quite racist about Chinese people from past posts, so I am not sure why you are asking that.

My grandmother was a Chinese. The Chinese are more racist than Malays.

To my knowledge there are Chinese people in pretty much every country, some more than others. And generally they are good hard working people who often have their own businesses, which is why some Malay people are envious of them, you being one.

The Chinese are greedy, selfish and want to dominate all natural resources rights of the Malays. They are envious and unhappy with the Malaysian Malays, when the bumiputra (natives) want to take back what belongs to them.

And don't forget your mother's homeland in Indonesia, they also hate the Chinese. Chinese-Indonesia can not openly practice their culture and speak their native language, they will be slapped by Javanese, worse than Malaysia.

Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya “When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed.When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya “When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed.When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

Qatar can live out of isolation, and also one of the Islamic countries rich in natural resources, unlike the Christian countries there are many poor countries. This is a golden opportunity for other countries to do business with Qatar.

Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya “When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed.When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

'$1 BILLION ransom paid to Al-Qaeda to free kidnapped Qatari royals sparked Gulf diplomatic crisis and prompted fury among its Arab neighbours who accuse the country of funding terror'

Qatar 'paid Iranian and Al Qaeda-linked forces to release hostages' held in Iraq Members of Qatar's royal family were among the hostages caught while hunting The falcon hunters were kidnapped by jihadis in southern Iraq in December 2015 The hefty ransom was a 'tipping point' for Qatari-Gulf Arab relations, officials say Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut diplomatic relations with Qatar on Monday over alleged support for Islamists Yemen, Libya's eastern-based government and the Maldives joined in later

Malaysia kicked out Singapore because Muslims know very well that they may get their bitter medicine of discrimination back!They are insecure lot and can't face competetion from Chinese. Indians etc. who are lot more intelligent than dumb Musallas! Only way Malayasian can prosper is by enticing conversion of Chinese to that goofed Arabian religion!

Last edited by idesigner1 on Tue Jun 06, 2017 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"I heard the Apostle say: 'Whoever wants to see Satan should look atNabtal!' He was a black man with long flowing hair, inflamed eyes, and darkruddy cheeks.... Allah sent down concerning him: 'To those who annoy theProphet there is a painful doom." [9] "Gabriel came to Muhammad and said,'If a black man comes to you his heart is more gross than a donkey's.'"~Ishaq 243

"Ham [Africans] begat all those who are black and curly-haired, whileJapheth [Turks] begat all those who are full-faced with small eyes, and Shem[Arabs] begat everyone who is handsome of face with beautiful hair. Noahprayed that the hair of Ham's descendants would not grow beyond their ears,and that whenever his descendants met Shem's, the latter would enslavethem." ~Tabari II:21

"It is your folly to fight the Apostle, for Allah's army is bound todisgrace you. We brought them to the pit. Hell was their meeting place. Wecollected them there, black slaves, men of no descent." ~Ishaq 450

"The black troops and slaves of the Meccans cried out and the Muslimsreplied, 'Allah destroy your sight, you impious rascals.'" ~Ishaq 374

"The Prophet said, 'Let the negro slave of Dinar perish. And if he ispierced with a thorn, let him not find anyone to take it out for him.... Ifhe [the black slave] asks for anything it shall not be granted, and if heneeds intercession [to get into paradise], his intercession will bedenied.'" ~Bukhari:V4B52N137

Qur'an [39.60] And on the day of resurrection you shall see those who liedagainst Allah; their faces shall be blackened. Is there not in hell an abodefor the proud? (Why was "black" equated with evil in Islam?)